European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker heads to Washington tomorrow in a last-ditch effort by Europe to cool nerves and find an exit door from an all-out trade war with US President Donald Trump.
Mr Juncker, a grizzled veteran of EU politics, follows a long list of European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who have tried to lure Mr Trump away from a protectionist onslaught that has spooked financial markets and the world.
The former Luxembourg prime minister is going to Washington without a negotiating mandate, but with the intention of thinking “outside the box” to “find a solution” with Mr Trump, said EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, who will join Mr Juncker on the trip.
At stake is a White House threat to slap a daunting wave of tariffs on European auto exports to the US, an action that the Europeans say would trigger a global economic earthquake and earn a withering riposte from Brussels.
If confirmed, Mr Trump’s auto tariffs would add to the steel and aluminium tariffs imposed in June.
In response, the European Union on June 22 imposed a raft of retaliatory tariffs that targeted the most emblematic of American exports, from blue jeans to Harley Davidson motorbikes and whiskey.
